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Will It Help You Get Big Travel Now That Citi ThankYou Points Transfer to Australia’s Qantas Airways?

February 27, 2015
by
Million Mile Secrets Million Mile Secrets

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What’s the Deal?

You can transfer Citi ThankYou points to Qantas at a 1:1 ratio, in 1,000 point increments. There’s no fee to move your points, but it can take up to 14 days (though they’ll debit your ThankYou account immediately).

Award Tickets on Other oneworld Partner Airlines Are Slightly More Expensive

But if you’re booking a ticket that includes 2 or more oneworld partners (but not non-oneworld partner airlines), there’s a different award chart. And it’s priced for round-trip tickets instead of 1-way.

If Your Itinerary Includes 2 or More oneworld Partner Airlines, Use THIS Chart Instead

The award charts appear much more expensive than other distance based programs like British Airways.

That said, their short-haul coach tickets could be a cheaper option than booking award tickets using points from a zone-based program, like American Airlines. But the taxes, fees, and fuel surcharges could make it not worth it.

Short-Haul Flights, Like Some Within Australia, Could Be a Good Deal With Qantas Points – but Not As Good As Using British Airways Avios Points

It might be worth using Qantas points if you really want to travel on 1 of their more obscure partners, like Airnorth.

Or if you want to fly Qantas from the US to Australia, you might be better off spending the extra Qantas points. That’s because they don’t make a lot of award seats available to partner airlines!

For example, a 1-way coach award ticket from Los Angeles to Sydney would cost:

37,500 American Airlines miles, or

48,000 Qantas points

Remember to factor in the cost of fuel surcharges to see if it’s worth it for you. And I wouldn’t transfer Citi ThankYou points to Qantas without knowing that award seats are available.

Note: Other transferable points, like Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards, do NOT transfer to Qantas.

Do Citi ThankYou Points Now Help You Get to Australia?

Maybe. It depends on:

If you have points or miles in other programs, like United Airlines (which might be cheaper or have more available award seats)

Whether you can find available award seats on Qantas for your desired class of service (Business and First Class can be trickier to find), and if you don’t mind paying more miles and fuel surcharges

How badly you want to fly Qantas, and how many miles or points you’re willing to spend with any program

Looking for a Lie-Flat First Class Award Seat? It Will Cost You (and Might Be Hard to Find!)

Let’s go back to our Los Angeles to Sydney example. Using Qantas points for a 1-way award ticket, you’ll pay:

70,000 miles (80,000 miles on partner airlines) in Business Class (no fuel surcharges)

80,000 miles (130,000 miles on partner airlines) in First Class (no fuel surcharges)

You can also use Delta and Alaska Airlines miles to get from the US to Australia, often without fuel surcharges.

You’ll Pay Fewer Miles (and No Fuel Surcharges) Using United Airlines to Australia

So in general, you’ll pay fewer miles with other airline programs to get to Australia. And you usually won’t pay the fuel surcharges that Qantas adds. As long as you can find available award seats, other airline miles are a better deal.

I’m still hoping that Citi will add more US airlines to the list (like American Airlines!).

Bottom Line

You can now transfer Citi ThankYou points to Qantas at a 1:1 ratio. It can take up to 14 days, and there are no fees to transfer points.

Qantas’ award charts are generally more expensive than other airlines, so for most folks this won’t be a good deal. And they add fuel surcharges to their award tickets.

But if you really want to fly Qantas (or 1 of their airline partners), and can’t find available award seats using other airline miles, this could be an option for you.

It’s always good news when Citi ThankYou adds airlines to their list of transfer partners. I hope they continue this trend.

Will you consider transferring Citi ThankYou points to Qantas, or are their award tickets too expensive?

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Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)